A new career path? Maybe.
La Crosse Wisconsin - Over the weekend, my announcing skills debuted at the Dan Nagy Memorial in La Crosse, Wisconsin. That’s right. I went all the way to the heartland of America – there are 76,500 farms in Wisconsin and we drove by most of them- to watch and call one heck of a ski race. When I got the call from George Rolfs that the organizers wanted me to make the event a little more exciting by announcing, I was totally dumbfounded. I wasn’t sure what to think, but after a few minutes and a couple text messages with Nolan Kasper I knew I had to send it!
This wasn’t just any old race in Wisconsin. The way the schedule worked a lot of exceptional skiers could attended namely Nolan Kasper, Will Brandenburg, Chris Frank, Charles Christianson, Michael Ankeny, Massie Ide, Matt Strand, George Rolfs, Taylor Rapley, Keiffer Christianson, Cameron Smith, Anna Kikut, Sara Kikut, and Anne Strong among others. It’s a memorial event for Dan Nagy, a local racer, coach, outdoor enthusiast, and other accolades of an all around great guy, that died far too young in a tragic plane accident 6 years ago at the tender age of 30. He left a wife, Colleen, and two little rippers McKenna and Andrew behind. They among countless other friends and colleagues were on hand for the glorious event.
The weather was perfect for two days of epic racing on “Damnation.” (seriously, that’s the name of the trail.) Awesome, huh. And as you can see it’s actually pretty damn steep on the pitch.
How do you prepare for something you’ve never done before and really don’t want to suck at? Once it set in that I was announcing in 4 days. I immediately sent messages to the three announcers that I know and respected: Nick Fellows, Doug Lewis, and Steve Porino (in no particular order). I went for all three assuming there was a better chance one of them would respond. I told them I was going to announce and asked them for any advice that would be helpful. Within 9 hours they all responded and this is what they had to say.
Nick Fellow – Nick is the main EuroSport announcer for World Cup ski racing in the United Kingdom and if you haven’t heard him announce he brings tons of intensity. He wasn’t the most talented ski racer, but his love for the sport always radiantly shines through. Go to minute 8:50 and watch him call Aksel Lund Svindal’s run it gives you an idea of how he rolls. And this video is first run so he didn’t put it all on the table.
Anyway, he said:
“You will make a brilliant commentator and my advice is pretty straight forward. Naturally use your up to date ski knowledge and let people know of your World Cup experiences. If you can get a little biography info on the top ranked racers, results , age etc etc it will make it easier for you to fill the gaps. Talk tecnique in short and easy to understand segements. Have fun. If you enjoy it so will your audience and don’t be afraid. If you announce like you ski it will be dynamic, accurate, skilled and bloody exciting. Do the same behind the mic and you will have a ball… go fast Warner. Nick F”
I was really pumped to hear from Nick. I met him last year at World Championships and his points were totally money and really helped.
Doug Lewis – I first met Doug at his summer camp, Eliteam, when I was a J3 and have liked him ever since. If you’re young enough (less than 15), you should definitely check out his camp – it was exceptionally fun and challenging. He’s been in ski racing forever and was a two time Olympian and a medalist at the World Championships in 1985.
“I have a couple thoughts for you. 1) Sit down with an organizer or bunch of coaches and MAKE SURE you know the pronunciation of every racer’s name. That is the ONE thing you have to get right. 2) Meet with organizer day before if possible and check out the sound system, area where you will be sitting, and how close the timing system will be. Test the sound system so you know it works and have a place to sit and such. 3) Besides getting names right, the next thing is to announce times immediately and correctly. You are an athlete and know that you want to hear your time and place first foremost. 4) After that you can add your personality and stories. A great way to learn about athletes you do not know, is to get the Organizers to have a one page info sheet for all athletes to fill out when they pick up Bib. 6 questions on it – Name, nickname, hometown and ski club, favorite race day breakfast, Ski racing hero, favorite musical artist, and another of your choice. You won’t get all of them filled out, but those that you do get, put in bib order and try to fit in a factoid when they are coming down. 5) Things happen pretty fast so don’t be surprised if all you do is names and times. 6) Remember to thank coaches and organizing cmte over the air as they deserve thanks as you know.”
All great points and I did my best not to butcher each race’s name. Unfortunately, it wasn’t until an hour before the race when I was able to go thru the names. I should have been more diligent on that front. But luckily, we were in a different booth than timing so we could fit quite a few people that knew the proper pronunciation far better than me.
Steve Porino – I have only met Steve over the last few years on the World Cup tour and didn’t really get to know him until World Championships last season. He too is a badass ski racer that competed on all the great tracks throughout his career. Super nice guy, great announcer and really fun.
“1: Don’t let sucking get in the way, I don’t! Ha! Live (on-site) announcing is a bit different in that you want to be a cheerleader. If they crash, tell them to hustle and to hike. Of if they seriously thump, tell them “it’ll stop hurting when the pain goes away.” If they’re ripping, say Hirshcer needs to watch this. That kinda stuff. But I’d make sure you take care of the basics. Who is up next, on course, where they’re from (or team) and their time and position if you have that. If it’s on the FIS site you can always pull up the start order and with a fast connection click from bio to bio. 2 computers would be better: One with live timing so you know the standings, the other for bios. If you have a sense of what time or performance a skier needs to win or move up or whatever, play off that and make sure the people know what’s at stake. Where I think a guy like you will shine, is to keep being a guy like you. Be your cheerful, upbeat self. Tie in some stories about the World Cup and some of the stars you know well. Motivate them, praise them, talk to them. Lastly, and this is the hardest part for someone new: Be yourself, but on 11. You gotta be a little louder and over the top than is probably comfortable. Imagine, or maybe actually do it, having loud music in your ears and talking over it. When I call races I crank up the sound in my headset so I have to compete with that level and don’t start listening and therefore thinking about what I say cause I don’t want to hear that crap!”
Steve once again gave some brilliant points and I even used the Hirsher line once – that line was epic!! My favorite part of announcing was that the speakers were loud enough that the races could hear us on the hill if they stopped. I would chant “hike, hike hike, hike, hike!!” right into the mic and literally you could see the athletes go from completely giving up to hammering up the mountain with tons of intensity. It was awesome. There was a huge hole at the bottom in an entry gate into a flush. It was that fall away left footer with a huge hole that forced Michael Ankeny to hike for his third time in his second run after leading first run. Ankeny was getting a standing ovation from the crowd after his first hike and when he did it a third time – really close to the finish – the whole place erupted. We even got the last male racer to hike in that same section. Sometimes when you’re starting last organizers, course crew, and helpers kind of forget you deserve just as much encouragement and commitment as the first to push out of the gate. I’ve seen course crew start unscrewing gates before the last racer starts thinking that it’s over and it’s really important to make them realize this is their race just as much as the people winning. So when you’re bummed after a crappy first run, starting last you deserve someone to cheer you on. Watching him hike was so exhilarating.
I have to thank Nick, Doug, and Steve for their help. I had no idea announcing would be so fun, challenging, exciting, and tiring. When we were in the thick of race, it kinda left like we were competing just as much as the races. Ramping everyone up doing some entertaining play-by-play and color commentary was most of our playbook. After this experience, it’s completely clear that the announcer decides the level of intensity for the entire race: his or her role is paramount. I just tried to bring a level of intensity similar to what the skiers were bringing to the race course. Based on responses from people I respect and others I didn’t know, I think we did a bang-up job and it really was a great time.
I was in the booth with a bunch of great people that were super helpful with athletes name pronunciation, color commentary, and filling the gaps when I was running low on steam or went outside to do an interview for the local news station. Will Brandenburg was my favorite in the booth – he just makes really good points similar to his super clean arcing slalom style. Nolan Kasper was giving us a hilarious visual split for the ladies, which was epic. Brewster McVicker was great to have in the announcing booth as he knew all the athletes well, which made it a lot easier to keep everyone involved. Amy and Susan were also super helpful and fun to have around.
Here are some nasty shots from the two days of racing thanks to Susan Theis!!
Nolan Kasper ripping!! Nolan started fifth from last around 95th second run, second day and was second on the run. He had a big mistake on the pitch and showed just how nasty he is as a skier the rest of the way down. It was really impressive. I was kinda nervous he was going to break his ankle on the entry gate to the flush, but it didn’t phase him.
Michael Ankeny draggin knucks hardcore!! He won the first day and was leading the second – it was great to see him ripping! This picture really doesn’t do any justice, but seriously.
Charles Christianson getting aerodynamic!! Charles was putting together some really good turns.
Robby Kelley looking nasty! Robby was skiing super fast using his whole ski, but at the end of the turn it was getting a little to far away from him which often made for some really exciting viewing. You’re soooo close.
Keiffer Christianson almost beat his older brother Charles for the first time in his career. You too are soo close haha.
Hangin with the ladies.
The winner: Taylor Rapley, Massie Ide, and Anna Kikut. All showed some really good skiing. Massie and Sara both put down some really sick skiing by dropping their knees in super hard. It was fun to watch.
Winners: Keiffer Christianson, Matt Strand, Michael Ankeny – all got after it. Matt’s second run second day was really impressive. He and Ankeny were both really fast on the flats both days, but Strand crushed the pitch that day and won the race and the Nagy Cup. Charles was second in the overall, but had to get out of dodge for an early flight home.
I’m kind of a big deal… a whooping two fans! Yeah.
Chris Frank, myself, and Will Brandenburg (respectively) after a glorious weekend.
Fun shots.
And yes, there was a party bus on Saturday night which turned out to be super fun. No Norweign Russ bus, but really fun. Only the college grads actually rocked the bus!! Good work to Frank the Tank and Keiffer’s brother 
. A great weekend in Wisconsin.
Cheers, w
Pulled the plug…
Vail, Colorado – As most of you have already figured out, my season is over. It’s painful to think that the next time I’ll race will be on 35 meter skis. However after talking to Ted (Ligety) and a few others, the Head and Fischer 35 meter prototypes are faster than the old 27 meter radius skis that are being used in World Cup GS right now. I have no idea how that works, but I have to say that’s the quintessential characteristic of ski racing: it often defies logic. And that’s why I love this sport. There is no function that decides what equipment will work or who will be the next rockstar. Watch us all be bitching about FIS changing the regulation back to 27 meters in two years for another random reason. However, I have to say this rule cannot be good for younger, less muscularly developed skiers and it cannot be good in softer snow because it will be harder for the skis to come around. Maybe that will all change too haha.
I was hoping to be ready to race here in Vail at the MacDermid Nor-Am event the last few days, but my body just isn’t ready. I have been seeing a chiropractor/Applied Kinesiologist in Edwards three times a week, hammering therapy a few hours a day, and doing some skiing here and there, but backs take longer to get better than I was hoping. My left leg is still far weaker than my right due to the nerve damage so the only reasonable conclusion is to pull the plug on this season.
I am freezing my points, which will increase my GS points by 10 percent. Next year they’ll be 6.66 so I’ll start around 40 rather than 35 in World Cup. It will also freeze my World Cup points before Beaver Creek so I’ll have a World Cup start for at least most of next season. It’s actually pretty hilarious and fortuitous that I can freeze my points. I would have started over 5 GS races – the limit to be able to freeze point under the new FIS rules – this summer/fall if I hadn’t hurt my back in New Zealand. And I have to thank Mike Day for forgetting to have Pete Korfiatis represent me in a race in New Zealand this past summer. haha it’s funny how things work out.
I haven’t done any training yet since my left leg is too weak and vulnerable when I get into awkard situations, but my new plan for returning to racing will be at the Director’s Cup in Whistler, British Columbia. It’s a race for a bunch of washed up skiing legends. I’m feeling like the first half of the description. I know that Paul McDonald and Scott Macartney are coming so that should be pretty damn fun. It’s all prep for the Jon Olsson Invitational in April. And from there I hope that my body will be ready for New Zealand.
“Sometimes it’s just your turn, suck it up.” – Robert Pastrana With that in mind, I’ve been making the best of my season in Vail. Thanks to Foster, Ian, Mike, Tom Palic, Sarah, Eugenia, Bob, and a few others for making my stay so worthwhile. I’m coming home on Friday so see ya soon NH!!
The State of my Body
“Make it better. Turn up the good, turn down the suck. Turn down the suck knob… I think you got suck all the way cranked to 10, Farrel. Right up to 10. Think you broke the knob off crankin it so hard.” -Fubar
This blog is going to give you an idea of where I stand right now. Any questions or ideas leave a comment. Cheers.
Background: On Thanksgiving Day, 47 days ago, I compressed my back making a left footed turn in a GS course at Loveland, Colorado. During that turn, my L4-5 and L5-S1 discs bulged to put pressure on my nerve and shut down over 50 percent of the power in my left leg. Not soooo good for a ski racer.
How am I feeling: I’m making progress so things aren’t so bad. It’s a bummer to not be pushing out of the starting gate right now, but that will certainly come when my body is ready. I just have to focus on getting healthy and it should all work out. As Robert Pastrana, the father of the most epic extreme sports athlete of all time Travis Pastrana, once said, “Sometimes it’s just your turn, suck it up.” And he’s completely right. I have been very lucky with minimal injuries and yeah this one sucks, but welcome to the world of sport. Suck it up.
Doc: I met with Dr. Karli for twenty minutes a couple days ago and he said, “I’m happy with your progress and you’re ahead of schedule.” Dr. Karli explained that as long as we’re continuing to see improvement in my left leg strength, he’s not going to make any changes. Since I do not have any pain in my back, at all, we’re not going to do any more injections. So right now it’s just slow and steady territory. As for surgery, since we’re seeing constant improvement he doesn’t want to go down that road. If I hit a plateau then we’ll reconsider all the options. Curious about the likely hood of this happening again, he explained that if we give the bulge time and the nerve starts refiring without surgery there is an increased chance of around 5 percent it will happen again. If we did surgery and shaved off part of the bulge, the increased change of having this problem again is 8 percent. However, Dr. Karli thought it was more like 15-20 percent since skiers put so much pressure on our backs. Although he thinks that there isn’t pressure on the nerve anyone, it just takes a time – everyone is different – for the nerve to start properly firing again. He then mention that sometimes if there is too much damage the nerve don’t come back all the way, but I’m going to ignore that comment! So we’re making headway it’s just not the fast and furious program I’d like.
Therapy: When I was home for Christmas I was using a hanging vest for traction and was doing my exercises for the most part. However, it’s great to be back at Howard Head in Vail, Colorado because the traction unit is much better and I’ve been spending between 3 and 4 hours a day doing traction, core workouts, and working out my left leg.
Skiing: I skied at my glorious home hill, Gunstock Mountain Resort, Gilford, NH, for 6 runs a couple days after New Year’s and it was amazing to ski again. On the flats, I felt absolutely great free skiing, but when it rolled over a little bit on to moderately flat, Gunstock isn’t known for nasty terrain, I could tell my left leg isn’t strong enough. In one situation, I had to heavily rely on my right leg to save me haha, but it just felt so good to be on snow bending up my skis. Once the weather chills out, it’s been snowing here, I’m going to start skiing on some flat terrain at Vail.
Leg difference: I have lost 2 inches in circumference of my left leg compared to my right, which is not that cool when you look in the mirror haha. Not cool at all.
Future: Right now I am certainly not ready to be racing. I watched the two races in Adelboden, Switzerland the last two days and there is no way my body would be ready for that type of abuse right now. I’m up to about 70 percent power in my left leg, which is certainly not enough to be racing in rugged conditions. I’m going to keep working hard on PT and if I reach 100 percent power by the end of the month, I’ll be ready to start testing it and will reevaluate for the next three World Cup GS starts. If that is not the case, I will file injury clause and call the season. Since I only had 4 GS starts this season starting in New Zealand I can file for injury clause starting right after Soelden, which will bring my GS points from 6.0 to 6.6 and save my world cup points so I would have a guaranteed start for all of next season. I’m not going to worry about my immediate future, I am going to focus on what matters at PT and hope that my nerve will let all of my left leg fire again soon. I’d much much much rather be in Europe on tour than in Vail doing PT.
Special thanks to the people that have really helped me with this injury: Dr. Karli, Dr. Viola, Mike Wahoff, Dr. Blaich, Dr. Wells, Sarah Iafrate, Scott Wacker, Elli Rubenstein, Ian Lochhead, Leif Kristian Haugen, and Charles Christianson.
Cheers, w
Let’s hope this works!!!
Steadman Clinic, Vail, Colorado – This morning I woke up at 5 AM. For the first time in over two weeks I wasn’t on any anti-inflammatory or pain killers and it sucked. This injury is turning out to be much more severe than I ever expected.
Today I received two epidural steroid injections at my L4-5 and L5-S1 by Dr. Karli a Steadman spine specialist. Hopefully, it will decrease the swelling on my bulging discs to limit the pressure on my nerves that have completely weakened my left leg by over 50 percent. I can still only reach 50 degrees of flexion before my left leg can’t hold my weight. Not sweet. But, I think we’re going in the right direction.
I owe a huge thanks to a few doctors and account managers at Steadman for working constantly to make my healthcare pick up the bulk of my costs here. Between that and some other help, I’m going to get thru this without being painfully screwed by our crappy US healthcare system. I never realized how bad the process is until I saw it first hand. But I cannot express how many other people have reached out with similar stories and helped me with the best plan for my back from people that have gone through similar disc issues. Before this injury, I just had no idea the nervous system could just shut off muscles and leave me so weak.
This is post injections in Vail Valley Medical Center – come on baby, let’s fire up that left leg! The whole procedure was only about 15 minutes.
“So, like, what’s you’re plan going forward?” asks Ian Lochhead, my current housing sponsor, as I’m a proper waste of space post injections on coach a few minutes ago.
Ahhhh. Yeah. hahahhaha. He wanted to know how long I was going to be taking up space on his couch – looks like it might be a while. Thanks, Ian!
This is how I see it. I’m not going to Europe to bang my head against the wall. I cancelled my flight to Geneva two days ago and added a week to my sweet Silver Chevy Cobalt rental car that stinks like Redbull. Jon left me a few that froze and all exploded. Awesome.
1. No Europe for me right now.
2. There isn’t any snow in the east so going home is silly.
3. There is great physical therapy here at Howard Head – I’ll be in there tomorrow.
4. Colorado has lots of snow and good training so if I can ski anytime soon this is the place to be.
Cheers, w
New Zealand Winter Games
On the podium with Marcel Mathis, Austria, and fellow T2 Athlete Colby Granstrom, USA.
Coronet Peak, New Zealand – Yesterday, Jon and I took the day off to rest after a few days on and I made some adjustment to my Dodge ski boots – I just didn’t feel like I had quite enough edge in the first race down here so the Dodge guys and I moved my cuff out half a degree. This morning, we went up to the hill early to get in some extra training runs and I was pretty happy with the new set up.
Trying to let my skis run off the pitch in Coronet Peak.
First run, I started 11 and put together a solid run nothing spectacular, but was in the lead by about a tenth over Hig Roberts followed by a ton of guys. It was really tight, which means the second run is going to be exciting. The second you think you have an advantage you’re totally screwed so I knew it was all going to come down to second run and it certainly did. Second run was a really turny course on the upper pitch, which gave a large advantage to the early start numbers in the second run. Thirtieth place was only 1.8 behind so it was really anyone’s race.
My plan was to take my turns really far across the hill – without stiviting – just arcing on the top of the turn and I was pretty solid up top. The flats were a bit of a different similar story. It was exceptionally painful on the flats because it was 6 degrees Celcius down there without any wind so the snow was starting to soften up so the line became extremely far from the gates meaning the later you started the further you’d travel. I came into the lower section and looked ahead to stay in the grove. On the flats with a pronounced grove in softer snow it’s imperative to stay in it or you’ll drop into the rut and completely lose all your speed so I was skiing it like a bobsled track, traveling an extremely far distance, but it was the only plausible option.
Although I kept it going all the way to the finish, it felt like I was sailing around the world in a perpetual lift at the windward. When I crossed the line I heard the beloved pole clicking of ski racing, which is a nice way of saying good job to a fellow competitor. It turns out I was 9 hundredths ahead of Marcel Mathis to take the win. He was in 19th after first run and had a miraculous second run to move up to second. Colby Grandstrom was third and made a similar move so did Jonathan Norbotten who moved up to forth position.
After not getting represented in the first race (where I became super technician and Jon won, which was really cool), then really sucking in the second, it was nice to walk away from the mountain with solid skiing and a victory with a 6.9 point result. It never hurts to have some of those in the bank hahaha. So pumped. It’s an honor to win the New Zealand Winter Games GS – people get pretty fired up for them down here, which makes it much more fun. We had a ceremony where they played the American National Anthem in downtown Queenstown. A good way to end the day. It’s been a long day. I just got back from the ski room after prepping 5 pairs of skis for tomorrow and I’m exhausted as it’s way past my bed time and nearly 11 o’clock at night.
Hanging out with Marcus Nilson before awards.
Special thanks to Jon and Oskar for their sick pics. Cheers. Good night world. Training SG and GS with Forests US Speed guys.
40 Meter Radius
Today I was training some GS with the US speed team and Rainer Salzgeber, the Chief of Head Racing, asked me if I wanted to take a run on the new 40 meter GS skis and I had to indulge. If you don’t already know, FIS the governing body of World Cup skiing decided two months ago that they should change the minimum radius from 27 to 40 meters and length from 185 to 195 cm for the 2012-13 season. Essentially making it much more difficult to turn. 40-meter radius used to be the minimum radius for a downhill skis less than a decade ago.
Going up the lift Rainer, he said, “Just remember to get as many angles as you can.” I was psyched for his advice since he debuted on the World Cup in ’89 and had an epic career. It was during the mid 80s the last time GS race skis had a 40 meter radius. It was part hilarious, part scary, and part entertaining. After the run, I skied over to Dane Spencer who watched and said, “So you weren’t doing anything you told me you were working on.” I mentioned the skis I was on and it all quickly made sense to him, “That explains a lot.” We both got a good laugh out of it.
First off, they are great for slipping. My first run was a slip run where they performed exceptionally well. They didn’t hook up at all; they gracefully slipped over every single rut, bump, and hole so nicely. They would be perfect for course workers and coaches since they don’t torque your knees at all slipping.
In the course, they were also righteous for slipping. I pushed out of the gate and found myself stepping at the first gate, second gate, and third gate before righteous sliding commenced. The skis weren’t quite as bad as I expected. I thought I’d fall over at the second gate and slide all the way down the steep pitch on Robins Run here at Coronet Peak. It was basically skiing GS on Super G skis. I was sliding the top of the turn a ton and hitting at the gate as hard as I could. Creating more angulation was imperative and I was pretty happy I took Rainer’s advice to heart – it was the only way I stayed in the course. Having 40 meter radius skis will completely change GS. It will bring back stepping, sliding the entire top of the turn, and the dominance of brute strength. Finesse will no longer be a concern in modern Giant Slalom.
I almost forgot to mention the scary part. When skiing a GS on skis with nearly no sidecut, you have to go ridiculously straight, which means your tips get painfully close to GS gates. I came into a turn on the pitch with my skis fully sideways as I was forced to bringing a new meaning to straight and late as my inside ski tip came mm from catching the gate and straddling a GS panel. That would have been really really unfortunate. I told Ted (Ligety) and he said, “That would have been sweet if you straddled it and broke your leg. You should have taken one for the team.” We all laughed, but he’s right FIS is out of their mind if they think straight, long skis are the safest option. All I can think of is Matthias Lanzinger’s crash three and a half years ago in Norway.
We’re racing some GS tomorrow down here and I’m pretty psyched. It will be on normal 27 meter radius skis. Time to turn up the good.
With the new GS rules for 2012-13
Skiers to fair the worst: Thomas Fanera and Cyprien Richard (two of the best guys to watch on the wc in gs)
Skiers to fair the best: Aksel Lund Svindal and Didier Cuche.
Wish I had pictures and video. I’ll try to get it from Rainer at some point.
Season Wrap Up
I will be skiing next year. A few people have asked and I was a little surprised since I thought that was pretty obvious. Either way, I will be racing next season. Right now, I’m ranked 32nd in the world based on FIS points; 46th in the World based on World Cup Start List (WCSL). What this means is that because of my WCSL ranks I will have a start in every World Cup GS next season so that is really nice to have that secured. I have never entered a season with a secured start right and last season was above and beyond the best season of my ski-racing career. I would really like to thank all of you for being part of it, the World Cup Tech Team for a great group of guys and coaches to work with, Jon Olsson and Team TNT for making the off season so fun that I didn’t quit last year.
I’d like to go thru the season. This is more than anything for myself to reflect on the year and mentally know where I made mistakes and things I need to change to have a more successful season next year.
This summer I came out hot with a two 6.0 point races down under. I was able to perform really well in two races in New Zealand and did a ton of free skiing down there and had a great time with TNT and super coach Sean McKenna. Then leading up to Solden, I upped the load of gates, which was really needed and frankly, I should have upped that load even earlier. I should have been in Europe a bit earlier to log a bit more training. Being a GS skier you really need to be firing on all systems in the fall or it can be a long season. I showed up in Colorado skiing well and fired up. I was crushing training for the first few days then started to lag when we trained day in, day out at Vail, which is pretty flat with one three gate pitch. I went to Aspen and really struggled skiing some of the worst I have in years. Then logged some free skiing days and a couple runs of low intensity gates at Beaver Creek to score my first World Cup points. The rest of December was a disappointment as I was right on the cusp of scoring in Alta Badia and really struggled in Val D’Isere. Adelboden I was once again right there, but didn’t qualify a couple tenths from getting a second run. January was painful as I changed my set up around and was slow. Then I put together a good race in Hinterstoder. Then I changed my set boot and ski up again to not get anything done at World Champs and blew out in Kranjska. The spring was painful as I once again made some poor ski choices, but I felt like I was back at 100 percent going back to my old set ups for Nationals and blew out.
It was an interesting year. I did best when I was struggling pretty hard and forced to just free ski for a couple days leading up to races, but more often than not there wasn’t great free skiing this winter. We had some really good training here and there, but I think what I need to do is keep my volume of skiing up, but limit my gate training to a couple days a week just to keep my timing. The long free skiing stuff is what I think I need to preform my best.
That being said, I had a talk with Sasha a couple days ago about where I stand with the ski team. I will not be named to the national team, which isn’t that much of a surprise at this point in my career I learned to expect the absolute minimum from them. I totally dig the coaches I worked with this year. The tech side has an badass staff and I will look forward to working with them for a couple camps here and there this summer. I was really hoping to get insurance through the ski team, but that fell thru as well hahaha. You just have to laugh. It’s funny when you’re good enough to be on the World Champs team, but those results mean nothing since I’m getting damn near 30.
